Tag Archives: Mobile phones

Rubbish bins tracking pedestrians as they walk along the street sound like something out of a sci-fi movie. But a few weeks ago it emerged that recycling and rubbish bins installed along London’s Cheapside Street were monitoring pedestrians through millions of smartphones.

However, it’s not just the residents of London that need to be aware of this.

Australia’s Westfield already uses this technology to track smartphones at three shopping centres. ”Westfield is capable of using the MAC identifier system in its centres but cannot collect any data other than to know smartphones are moving within,” a company spokeswoman said.

Westfield offers free internet access in three centres across Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Visitors can opt in to the service but Westfield can also monitor the movements of smartphones without the owners logging in to its wi-fi network.

Its privacy policy states it collects information ”where devices are able to connect to, or are identifiable by, in-centre infrastructure” and that it uses ”this information so that we can tell … where shoppers spend most of their time”.

Children who bask in the nighttime glow of a TV or computer don’t get enough rest and suffer from poor lifestyle habits.

A provincewide survey of Grade 5 students in Alberta showed that as little as one hour of additional sleep decreased the odds of being overweight or obese by 28 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. Children with one or more electronic devices in the bedroom—TVs, computers, video games and cellphones—were also far more likely to be overweight or obese.

Recently well known child and young adult psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg attended a learning and teaching conference in Melbourne where he suggested that students earn a licence to use a mobile phone after learning safe and responsible use. The Age reports:

His intention is not to ban them, rather to facilitate greater use of technology by first teaching students what safe and responsible use is and then obtaining their agreement to abide by a set of rules and conditions.

Students would sit a licence test online with their parents needing to sign up to validate their digital rights, says Dr Carr-Gregg.

”There is absolutely no point in banning them because it is going to be the central part of their education. This would at least ensure they have the skills, the knowledge, strategies and basic competencies before they’ve brought the device to school,” Dr Carr-Gregg said.

Recently the BBC reported that ‘ international mobile operators would be giving customers more control over how data about them is being used.’

The action will limit the kinds of data available to marketers and others if a subscriber adds restrictions.

“There’s a burning need for the industry to develop a way to communicate what the consumer has consented to,” said Andrew Bud, head of the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) which is co-ordinating the tools’ development.